THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY AFTER 25 YEARS of waging a “verbal cold war” against Hungary – while Orban himself dismissed the sanctions as a 34 ‘flimsy piece of paper’. Nevertheless, Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration has been accused of turning a blind eye to VAT fraud committed by government associates and of bribing American companies – by using tax breaks – in return for funding policy papers that favour Orban’s administration.35 In Romania, the mingling of politics with corruption – and the fight against it – has been a key issue in successive presidential elections, and 2014 saw the largest shake-up in the country’s business and political elite since 1989.36 Last year alone, 16 legislators – seven senators and nine members of the lower house of the parliament – have been indicted, along with an army general, 37 four prosecutors, and 18 judges. At the forefront of this fight is the DirecĠia NaĠională AnticorupĠie (National Anti-Corruption Directorate, or DNA) led by Laura CodruĠa Kövesi, the first woman to be appointed as head of Romania’s General Prosecutor’s Office. The DNA’s most high-profile target so far has been Adrian Năstase – the former prime minister who was sentenced, in January 2014, to four years in prison, for taking bribes (he had already been imprisoned once in 2012, for improperly raising funds).38 Released on good behaviour after six months, Năstase’s conviction reverberated through Romania’s political elite – particularly the Social Democratic Party, to which he belonged. However, Prime Minister Victor Ponta is exploiting deficiencies in the Romanian judicial system, in order to influence the DNA, and pulls rank over prosecutors and judges alike. With the help of the Minister of Justice, Robert Cazanciuc, the Prime Minister succeeded in appointing a loyal prosecutor to the DNA in 2013 whose first act was to target Ponta’s chief enemy, Dan 39 Adamescu. Ponta presaged Adamescu’s indictment while appearing live on TV and condemned him as a criminal in front of the nation, all of which was duly echoed by the prosecutor and the judge in the courtroom who presumed Adamescu guilty from the very first day of his trial, which began in mid-2014.40 Adamescu’s case illustrates the influence that Ponta wields over the judiciary system and that even an organisation like the DNA – often presented as being wholly independent – is not immune from his political influence. In reality, Romania is currently drifting from the EU’s requirement that the independence and integrity of corruption investigations be maintained at all times. 3.4 Links with Authoritarian Regimes There are disturbing examples of politicians in Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Romania having accommodative attitudes towards revisionist non-democracies, developing close political ties with authoritarian regimes and the political parties that represent their interests. 34 Byrne, A., ‘Hungary grapples with cost of “Orbanomics”’, The Financial Times, 27 October 2014, available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc8f9944- 5b8e-11e4-81ac-00144feab7de.html. 35 Given, C. and Máté Hajba, ‘Continued Corruption in Hungary’, Forbes, 14 November 2014, available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/11/14/continued-corruption-in-hungary/. 36 ‘Oh, brother’, The Economist, 28 June 2014, available at: http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21605953-traian-basescu-ending-his-presidency- amid-corruption-scandal-oh-brother. 37 Higgins, A., ‘In a Soft-Spoken Romanian Prosecutor, Some See an “Earthquake”’, The New York Times, 14 November 2014, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/world/europe/romania-prosecutor-laura-codruta-kovesi.html?_r=0. 38 ‘Romania ex-PM Adrian Nastase Jailed in Bribery Case’, BBC News, 06 January 2014, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25630091. 39 Dill, G. and Cora Motoc, ‘Briefing: On the Current State of EU Accession Criteria in Romania’, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, available at: http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_6834-1522-2-30.pdf?080806135953 40 ‘Legal Experts Advisory Paper’, Fair Trials, November 2014, available at: http://fairtrials.creative.ayima.com/wp-content/uploads/Presumption-of- Innocence-Position-Paper.pdf. 9